A report released by the Center for Climate Integrity (CCI) states that fossil fuel companies and trade associations have used marketing campaigns since the 1960s to promote natural gas as a clean energy source despite internal knowledge of its environmental impact. The document cites a 1966 Shell report noting large quantities of methane release and a 1968 American Petroleum Institute study linking methane in the atmosphere to oil fields.
The CCI report details how the American Gas Association (AGA) launched public relations initiatives in the 1970s, such as "GAS, CLEAN ENERGY FOR TODAY AND TOMORROW," to frame the fuel as environmentally beneficial. It further claims that by 1996, the AGA collaborated with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on studies where internal EPA communications allegedly expressed a lack of expertise to independently verify industry-provided data. The EPA did not provide immediate comment on these findings.
According to a Data for Progress poll cited in the report, approximately half of Americans currently view natural gas as a clean energy source. While methane is a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, the expansion of natural gas infrastructure has been supported by subsidies and "green" classifications in at least four states. CCI President Richard Wiles stated that the industry's branding has relied on manipulated science, while the gas-appliance industry continues to lobby against certain health and environmental labeling standards.